The Scrambled Channel
The Scrambled Channel is a sprite comic written and produced by Rick "Meta" Bieniek. It debuted on August 30th, 2006, and is still updating on Fireball20xl.com to this day, alongside its predecessor The Pixel, by Phil "Rogul" Sykes, and its spin-off, Matt Lally's Friendly Fire. Creation and Conception At some point during the year 2004, good friends Mark McPheron and Rick Bieniek (better known to the world at large as Jiggy and Meta, respectively) got together and began the mildly popular webcomic known only as "Jiggy & Meta." Late in 2004, at the height of its popularity, co-author Rick began a sprite comic called "Scrambled," featuring Meta, Nilla, Topaz, Rosco, One Piece's Roronoa Zoro, and Squaresoft's Musashi. Nilla quickly became so popular that she became a regular in Jiggy & Meta, as well. Eventually, both Jiggy & Meta and Scrambled came to an end, and for a long time, characters from both series were in limbo. Then, in 2006, Rick began forming plans to merge both series and relaunch them as one new comic, taking characters from each, as well as the occasional random gag involving new characters. The Scrambled Channel debuted on August 3oth, 2006, though Rosco and Musashi left the cast, and in their stead, a plethora of Rick's friends were added, such as Silver, Doku, and Jiggy. It was met with mild success, but went on a long hiatus after only 5 issues due to Rick's overall unhappiness with the final product. Finally, after Skype provided him with some new ideas, The Scrambled Channel continued right where it left off, and has been going strong since. In 2008, Rick Bieniek, Steven Brown, and Don Nguyen discussed an idea of bringing The Scrambled Channel into an animated form. The ideahas been concreted by Author Bieniek, who responded to the idea with. "I really want to do it."I was there when he said it. Basic Premise The premise of The Scrambled Channel is a simple one; it follows the misadventures and sarcastic dialog of Meta Knoxville and his numerous video game addicted friends. Random gags involving unrelated characters are interspersed. Etymology "The Scrambled Channel," is a play on the name of the original Scrambled and the tendency for adult cable channels to appear "scrambled." Another reason for this name was that the comic was originally planned to have a narrative style similar to Animaniacs; certain issues would focus on Meta and the rest of the Scrambled cast, while others would focus on entirely different characters with little ties to the established cast, though occasionally these stories would overlap. Channels Cast The main cast of The Scrambled Channel hails directly from the original Scrambled. The only members missing are Rosco, a diminutive, angsty mushroom, and Musashi, the main character of the Playstation game Brave Fencer Musashi. Musashi did not return because Rick felt he didn't bring much to the table, and with the addition of Toadkarter, there was little need for Rosco, a nearly identical character. The main cast of The Scrambled Channel consists of: Meta, the star of the original Scrambled and co-star of Jiggy & Meta. Nilla, the lead female of both Scrambled and Jiggy & Meta." Topaz, Meta's sidekick from ''Scrambled, reprising his role. Zoro, returning from Scrambled to continue providing insults. Toadkarter, or "Teeks," for short. Played a similar role to Rosco, and eventually became the star of the spin-off series, Friendly Fire. Rogultgot, better known as "Rogul" or "Rog." The star of The Pixel and a frequent guest star in both Jiggy and Meta and Scrambled. Silver, an anthropomorphic wolf, and friend of Meta's. Doku, a quirky, Asian friend of Meta's. Bacon, an anthropomorphic Petey Piranha and long-time friend of Rogul's. Stick, an ordinary forked stick. The secondary cast is comprised of characters who are not focused on as much, but have still shown up multiple times and have had occasional dialog. It includes Jiggy, Jess, Ton, Megan, Wil, Johnson, Shigster, Chin, Josh, Starkin, Walters, and Caruthers. Several members of the secondary cast, such as Ton and Josh, have featured much more prominently in Friendly Fire. There have also been numerous cameos, including Psyguy, Bean, Sonikku, Fei, and even Rosco and Musashi from Scrambled. Reception The Scrambled Channel is fairly successful, as a part of the webcomic hub fireball20xl. It has a fair amount of readers and has received numerous fan-arts, though admittedly many were from artists appearing in the comic, such as Jess Jackson or Steven "Silver" Brown. The Scrambled Channel website attracts 4% of total fireball20xl hits, according to the Alexa ratings. Running Gags Stick Though an arguably legitimate character, Stick Twigman is the biggest running gag in all of Scrambled continuity; Appearing somewhere in every single comic to date is a forked stick, simply named "Stick." Sometimes he is quite difficult to spot, and fans are often quick to point it out when Stick is seemingly missing. Author Rick Bieniek also goes out of his way to place Stick in the middle of ridiculous places or activities no ordinary stick could ever manage. Johnson (Strikes Again!) Johnson, a short executive bearing a coincidental resemblance to Toadkarter, has had a number of different jobs since The Scrambled Channel began, and he seems to find strange enjoyment in fouling them up by giving crude and genuinely hurtful advice. He was first fired from Hostess for submitting sexual snack names such as "Ho-Ho's" and "Ding Dongs." He then went on to work for Nintendo of America, where he was fired for wanting to name the Toad character "Chode." He then worked at the television studio behind "The Spriter's Rejects," where he successfully convinced the big cheese to kill off Pig Bart, which sparked rioting from the fans. Though he must be rather old, having been alive during the naming of the Hostess snack products as well as Toad, Johnson appears to be as spry and youthful as ever. Chin A very Asian executive at Nintendo who strongly resembles Doku. Chin eventually quit after piles upon piles of racist comments from his boss, and his current occupation is unknown. Ton's Sombrero Frequently, Ton wears an over-sized sombrero which seats several people. It is most often used as a method of transportation, typically fitting a great deal more people than any creature Ton's size could ever hope to lift. Somehow, Ton is always able to manage this feat, regardless. Jon and Zoro Jon and Zoro host a television show in the style of Sports Center, though they instead discuss wooing techniques. They occasionally focus on Meta, offering insight on his progress with Nilla. The Spriter's Rejects A television show starring a ragtag gang of entirely unrelated characters, bonding together somehow in a never-ending search for treasure. The team is led by The Farquad Mascot, and consists of Toot (from Bonkers), the Megazord, One Piece's Tony Tony Chopper, Hello Kitty, and Pig Bart. At one point, Pig Bart was killed off, though Snoop, the studio's CEO, realized how popular Pig Bart was, and brought him back. That night at Disneyland At some point in the past, something happened at Disneyland involving Meta, Nilla, Jess, and Megan. It has never been elaborated on, and only those four know what it was that happened that night. Whatever it was, Meta and Jess would love to relive it, while Nilla and Megan would prefer never to speak of it again, and are quick to silence anyone who brings it up. Story Arcs As of yet, there have only been two major story arcs, though there were also two in the original Scrambled, and there are frequently two-part issues. The first was a combined story arc between The Scrambled Channel and Friendly Fire. When Meta decides to build a time machine to get to Super Smash Brothers Brawl faster, four of the eight members of the Friendly Fire house went to his aid to help reach the goal faster. Back at home, Josh, Viper, Oddy and Tennis Ball wondered where the others had gone. When Viper explains that the others are helping Meta "Get to December 3rd," Josh quickly drags the others over to Meta's appartment. The four characters made a cameo appearance in the next issue of The Scrambled Channel. The main story was told via The Scrambled Channel, While what went on while the others were away was told in Friendly Fire. Though they eventually make it to the future, they are unable to acquire Brawl because it is sold out everywhere. The second, taking place not long after the first, was a romantic arc involving Meta and Nilla. When Nilla loses her DS charger, Meta takes her out to buy a new one, surprising her by taking her to see her favorite band. Nilla eventually finds out that it was Meta who took the charger in the first place, but forgives him because it was all part of his plan to surprise her. Meta is rewarded for his efforts with a make-out session near The On-Ramp. It seems a third story arc is begin, Mankey's family origin. The arc is unique due to Mankey being a very minor character in Universe A.